East of Edith Open Mic with feature Adan Baca

I’m very happy to announce that next Monday at the East of Edith open mic, our feature is Adán Baca who is coming in from Espanola. I hope you’ll come out and join us at 7 pm Monday April 30th at the Projects which are located at 3614 High Street NE, Albuquerque. (East of Edith and just north of Candelaria through the open garage doors.)

Adán grew up in Espanola, and also went to UNM. He is a father, writer, therapist–a great poet and also host of the Espanola Library series if I’m not mistaken. I’ll give you a fuller bio when I introduce him at the open mic. Today mostly I’ve been perusing his website . There’s good stuff there. Here’s an excerpt from a poem that caught my attention…

An excerpt from “Albuquerque ’98”

…

And she pulls back away from me

lowers her eyes

and she clutches her bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila

like she’s a La Llorona with her long lost kid

and I’m from social services

looking to take the bastard back

and she whispers

“at least this is better than home”

You can read the whole poem by Adán here. I picked that excerpt because not only is it stunning, but because–as many of you know–a new La Llorona anthology just came out.

Mitch and I will co-host and we will do as the hosts at East of Edith usually try to do and intersperse other poems we like between readers on the open mic. (Feature comes in the middle of the open mic). We’re planning some Delmore Schwartz, a translation of Delmore into Spanish, and then a translation of that back into English that was done by Jim Sagel– which Tony Mares kindly pointed me to… and I’ll also read a response to Delmore. For the details you’ll have to read my separate blog post, on the way to obsession, which currently only exists inside my head but which I’ll try to write up and post tomorrow. And I’m hoping we do some Sabines also, in Spanish and English, because Mitch’s translations of Tarumba had a big impact on me and are on my mind right now. By sharing work from other writers on our mind, we’re trying to celebrate the large world of literature, share our loves, keep craft in mind and showcase even more of this beautiful calling.

AND ON THAT NOTE, A REMINDER.

The East of Edith open mic welcomes new and returning voices and hopes to create a supportive environment where writers can try their craft, gain experience, be heard, listen, learn, and grow. And have a good time. And hear great features. So if you want to read, please sign up on the list which is on the table by the entrance before the reading, and when the host calls you to the stage, that’s when you’ll have your chance. Give us your best poem–and if you feel like it, give us one poem of yours and one by an author you love. You’ve got a four minute or two-poem limit to express yourself. Thanks in advance for respecting our guidelines. And remember, let’s make this reading a good space for everyone.